With the press of a button, a wooden block spins on Gord Rock’s lathe at 1,000 r.p.m.

Rock outlines three basic steps. First, anchor your tool onto the tool rest. In this case, it’s a spindle gouge, used to sculpt beads and coves. Then make contact with the wood using the bevel of the tool head. Finally, a slight turn of the wrist sends shavings flying, resulting in a smooth, rounded cut.

It’s a hobby that’s hooked many Central Albertans like him and has prompted the formation of the Central Alberta Woodturner’s Guild. Since the group assembled last September, it’s grown to 40 members and counting.

Rock is the group’s vice-president. He was selling woodworking equipment at KMS Tools when he noticed just how many people in the region shared that interest.

“But the thing about woodturning is, it’s pretty much a solo pursuit. I’m in my shop all day, I’m turning, but nobody knows it. I’m not showing anybody because I’m not going to the flea markets and selling stuff. And there are a lot of us like that,” said Rock, now retired.

The guild meets the first Thursday night of each month at Trimmed-Line Tree Services. Rock wants to create a community for woodturners who’ve traditionally worked in solitude.

“It’s a way for those of us who are into the hobby to get together to share ideas. None of us know all of it. Every month we have a meeting and we’ll get up and demonstrate something. Maybe how to turn a bowl, how to round a blank, just all kinds of different things,” he said.

“We’re hoping other people that are doing that in their garage all day will (join us).”

Long term, his vision for the guild includes inviting world-renowned woodturners for workshops, holding classes and a weekend symposium.

Woodturners like Rock and fellow guild member Andrew Glazebrook are modern-day practitioners of a historic craft. As Glazebrook explains, there was a time when woodturning was a necessity.

The lathe dates back to antiquity, he said, to make bobbins for spinning wool, to fashion tool handles, furniture, plates, cups, bowls and eating utensils.

Back then, it took one person to power the lathe and another to do the cutting. Technology has since advanced but the fundamentals are still the same.

“When you’re dealing with different products or shapes or items you want to make, you have to understand the wood grain. Even if you’re using the most modern technology, the basics are still applied no matter which way you look at it,” Glazebrook said.

Originally from Rosebud, Glazebrook started using the lathe when he was 11 years old, making spoons, spatulas and bowls. He never stopped. He has since turned his passion into a business, teaching woodturning, selling tools and soon, he’ll get into manufacturing. At 36, he is one of the younger guild members.

“I consider myself a maker of things, a person who likes to take an object like a tree and make it into something useful. There’s something about that that’s satisfying and rewarding,” he said.

Today, woodturning is more of a lost art, lost in an age when goods are mass-produced by somebody else.

Guild members are out to revive it.

As well, Rock wants to continue visiting schools and teaching woodturning to students. He said after years of cuts to shop classes, there’s an appetite for woodworking again.

“First of all, it’s fun,” he said. “But you can also make things yourself if you want to. Some people do it professionally, can make things and sell them at craft fairs or through galleries. It’s good for kids to find out they can actually use their hands for something other than pushing buttons on electronics.”

Glazebrook said there are lots of people like him, who get satisfaction from creating and are searching for the right tool to express themselves.

To him, woodturning is a relaxing activity.

“You might think that it’s just this rough feeling, (cutting) off the big log. I promise you, if you know how to use the tools properly, it’s like butter. It’s such a satisfying, smooth, silky feeling. It’s addicting,” he said.

Rock started woodturning after receiving his father’s lathe. He estimates having turned hundreds of pieces but only a select few sit on his living room shelf. Many are decorative bowls. Rock has also built a spinning top with a launcher. Another creation, called a cryptex, is a cylindrical vessel that opens like a combination lock.

After years of turning, Rock still considers himself a novice. Woodturning isn’t a hobby people can just pick up right away. But he keeps doing it because the lathe is where ideas turn into reality.

“You can visualize in your mind a product that you think can be in that piece of wood. You can bring it out of there,” Rock said.

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A hands-on hobby attracted several people in the F-M area Saturday afternoon.

Local artist showed off their skills at the 2017 Woodturner’s Winter Extravaganza.

Woodturner Larry Longtime said he sees something different in every piece of wood.

But for some, it’s more than a hobby.

For Ruth Severson, owner of “In the Chips, it’s a challenge and a way of breaking down barriers.

“I grew up in that stage where people said, ‘You can’t do that, you’re a woman,'” Severson said.

But woodturning wasn’t easy to get into.

“We didn’t get to do a lot of things,” Severson said. “I didn’t get to take shop class.”

She’s now carving a path for other women who want to learn the craft.

“I would really like to have more company from the girls,” Severson said.

Other local woodturners agree the activity is for everyone.

“It’s something that people of basically any skill level, any age” can do, said woodturner Roy Jacobson. “Disabilities don’t really matter. I know of people who are actually legally blind and do woodturning.”

 

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A UNIQUE exhibition is currently on show at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina.

It features the works of husband and wife team, Deb & Rowan McFarlane, each talented in their selected crafts.

Deb is an award-winning freeform weaver.

She specialises in scenic picture weaving using a traditional frame loom.

Deb uses both new and recycled yarns and is passionate about natural fibres.

She has produced some gorgeous wall hangings.

Freeform weaving is a very slow working process and the larger pieces take three months to complete when doing a 25+ hour week.

However the outcome is amazing, as the textures in the yarns create extraordinary depth, shading and movement.

Deb has exhibited at the Rocks in Sydney and won the textile section at the Byron Arts Classic 2016.

Rowan is a wood turner and wood carver.

He learnt his skill from his late father Ken, whom was also very talented in this field.

Rowan was a primary school teacher and after retiring ventured into creating his unique style.

He has a woodturning stall at the Bangalow Markets but has produced some very ingenious pieces for this exhibition.

Stunning carved bowls and beautiful inlayed boxes are his speciality.

He uses local reclaimed timbers.

Rowan has a reputation for quality and his woodturning pieces are often sent as gifts all over the world.

The title and theme evolved from their use and blending of raw materials, and is inspired by the spirit of their homeland on the North Coast, and its vibrant coastal landscape.

Weaving, Wood and Water has been a priority for Rowan and Deb over the last two years.

It features creative new designs never exhibited before.

The launch was a tremendous success with big crowds and sensational reviews.

The exhibition runs until January 29 at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery, located at 44 Cherry St, Ballina.

Hours are Wednesday to Friday 10am to 4pm and weekends 9.30am to 2.30pm.

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Michelangelo, the Renaissance genius who gave us the David statue, said his technique was basically to cut away all the stone that wasn’t David, and then he was done.

Fast-forward 500 years to rural Shelbyville, and we find wood-turning craftsman Jeremy Williams adopting a similar approach. His medium is dead wood rather than stone, and that wood is often twisted, holed and decorated by the ravages of disease into artsy shapes and patterning. Chucking up a chunk of this on a huge lathe in a chilly workshop veneered in layers of sedimentary sawdust, he gets to work.

“I remove material until I have my desired size and shape,” explains Williams, 31. “With most kinds of woodworking, you take pieces and put them together to build something. With me, it’s the opposite: instead of putting parts together, I make shavings until I’m done.”

And while Michelangelo freed statues from the embrace of stone, Williams liberates a parade of exquisite wood bowls, vases, wooden bodies for ink pens and even wine bottle stoppers. He has been known to fashion chess sets when the mood moves him, and is open to doing commission work. He says customers bring out their deceased wood from favored felled trees and call upon him to transmute it into utilitarian art.

Otherwise, our craftsman prowls “wood dumps,” looking for the dead and diseased raw material the rest of us don’t want. Under his loving hands, it becomes objets d’art that command prices ranging from $5 to about $400.

“He makes some very nice utilitarian pieces, and a particular interest of mine are his ink pens: He uses so many different woods and they are of very high quality,” says Carol Kessler, the owner of the not-for-profit Flourishes Gallery and Studios in Shelbyville.

She first encountered Williams and his work at a farmers market and quickly decided he deserved a more discerning audience. “I am a co-director for the Shelby County Arts Show, and we invited him to demonstrate and exhibit at our shows,” Kessler adds. “He’s done that and won major awards.”

Williams discovered a career in wood seven years ago. His father, Steven, was a carpenter who could build houses but later laid aside his saw to become a pastor and run a church, mirroring the life of that earlier carpenter who switched careers to found Christianity.

“I was 10 when Dad stopped working with wood, and so no, I didn’t really learn wood-turning at my father’s knee,” recalls Williams. He was in fact home sick one day from his job working at Walmart when he fired up the TV and found himself fascinated by a PBS show on a guy turning a wood bowl. Everything grew from that and now his art, supported by other odd jobs, including furniture repair, is how he makes his living.

“I watched quite a few YoutTube videos to figure out how to do what I wanted to do, and then it was lots of trial and error,” he says. “I’ve had tools go flying out the window when something broke but you have to be persistent to learn and find something you are passionate about. We all have to find that thing in life we are willing to fail at so that, later, we can succeed.”

 

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A CRAFTY Greenock man is aiming to revolutionise his hobby of woodturning — by starting a club for like-minded amateur artisans.

Alex Francis, 74, reckons it would be tree-mendous to bring enthusiasts and interested novices together to learn and share ideas and experiences.

The former IBM worker — who began his pastime 10 years ago — said: “I decided to buy an old second-hand lathe and then I just started playing around.

“It’s a wonderful thing to do and the great thing about it is that you can actually produce something in a couple of hours, or make something in your first lesson, so it’s very rewarding.”

Alex has made hundreds of beautiful pieces since getting involved, including pens, bowls and trinket boxes which he sells at craft fairs.

He said: “It pays for more materials and tools to keep me going.”

Asked why he is starting a club in Inverclyde, Alex — a member of the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain — said: “A chap from Bishopton and I travel through to Lenzie every month for a club but it’s quite a long way to go, especially in winter.

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Call for entry into the largest cash-awarding art contest in the Northwest… Art & Soul of the Magic Valley is now accepting entry for a chance to win a Grand Prize of $15,000. A total of $43,000 will be awarded to 30 winners. A $1,000 Best in Show will be awarded in 14 categories. 7th Annual Art & Soul of the Magic Valley takes place in Twin Falls, ID April 14-29, 2017.Entry fee: $50. Any artist is eligible. Application Deadline is January 31, 2017. More information, entry forms, official rules: http://magicvalleyhasart.com. Questions? melissa@twinfallscenter.org or 208-734-2787.

Anticipation has been building among collectors the last few weeks as the opening of the Annual Hawaii Wood Guild Invitational Masters Show fast approaches. Now in its seventh year at Isaacs Art Center, the display will feature of some of the most exquisite handcrafted furniture, sculptures and wood turning made on the Big Island beginning Jan. 14.

Top works by talented woodworkers are displayed. All are available for purchase. Participating artists are eligible to win the “Peoples’ Choice Award.” Visitors can vote for their favorite piece. Up to 1,000 people participate.

The exhibit kicks off with an artists’ reception from 5-8 p.m. next Saturday. The show continues through Feb. 24, with several artists at the gallery each Saturday to answer questions of a technical nature.

Three prominent artists featured this year are Marcus Castaing, known for his joinery and furniture; Gregg Smith, a master in the art of wood turning; and Scott Hare, a sculptor who has received many awards over the years.

“As Hawaii Wood Guild (HWG) president, by far the biggest expenditure of energy is putting together the Guilds’ annual wood show. Several of us members have been here from the beginning and most for many years,” Castaing said.

HWG is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization comprised of professional woodworkers from around the island.

“This year we invited 19 of our award-winning master woodworkers to exhibit,” Castaing said. “They have answered the call with 55 pieces of work in furniture, sculpture and turning.”

Participants bring a variety of experience to the show.

“I started working with wood as a teenager with redwood burls salvaged from the remote beaches of Northern California in the late ‘60s,” Castaing said. “It was after moving to Hawaii in 1979 that I started making a living as a cabinet maker. I began reading Fine Woodworking magazine and it was not long before I was obsessed with refining my skills into that of a furniture maker. I have always loved making things with my hands and consider making my living in this way to be a lifestyle more than a job.”

A chair he designed won “Best of Show” in last year’s judged exhibit.

“I wanted to make a chair that would challenge my skill set and use some vintage fabric my wife purchased for me on Etsy,” he said. “I made several mock-ups with scrap wood to get comfortable with the shape. This design process can take many hours before I even get to actually making the chair.”

He uses wood harvested from down and dead trees.

“It is with these old mature and dying trees where you find the richest grain and colors. For me, using the inherent dramatic patterns of koa has always been a central part of my design and building style. I also enjoy working with dozens of locally grown trees,” Castaing said.

Smith, a professional woodturner for the past 18 years and a professional woodworker for over 33 years, uses a lathe to help cut and shape the wood for his creations.

“My first experience using a lathe came over 50 years ago in a junior high school class. My wife and I moved to Hawaii in 1984, where I worked in a couple of wood shops before starting my own furniture and cabinet shop,” he said. “When my father-in law passed away in 1996, I inherited his upgraded lathe. By 1998, I was turning full time and haven’t looked back since.”

His tools of choice include a joiner/planer, table saw, chop saw, band saw, and turning and sanding tools to create his vessels. Multiple coats of a teak oil/urethane mix are applied to the wood that is then buffed out with Renaissance wax. Smith’s attention to detail results in stunning segmented bowls, vases and urns that set his work apart from most woodturners who traditionally use one block of wood.

“Segmented wood turnings are created by building the vessel from small blocks glued into rings and stacking those rings to be turned into the vessel,” he said. “I draw to scale on graph paper before cutting the angled blocks, and dictate from start to finish the shape, woods and designs used in creating my vessels.”

They take an average of 1-3 weeks to build, one week to finish, and time to allow the glues and finishes to cure.

“My most popular turnings over the years have been Hawaiian umeke (traditional Hawaii bowls) . I burn in Hawaiian petroglyphs or a maile lei on them,” Smith said. “My wood of choice is koa, but I usually incorporate other woods into the design of the vessel.”

His koa and mango come from Hawaii, mostly milled on the east side of the Big Island by professional sawyers. He also uses some exotics for accent, which are brought in from around the world by local wood supply stores.

“I am basically self-taught, but have taken numerous classes with some of the world’s best woodturners by attending symposiums and classes offered through our local turning clubs,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, shop classes are rarely offered in our school system because of cost cutbacks in the arts. For those looking to advance their skills, I would suggest joining one of the two turning clubs on the Big Island, subscribe to a turning magazine, attend a woodturning symposium and simply practice as much as you can on a lathe.”

Hare focuses on foliage, dolphins, turtles, tikis and his favorite — birds — in the sculpted wood pieces he creates.

“One of my pieces was inspired by the alala, our native crow,” he said. “Made from milo wood, the piece took about 200 hours to make.”

Hare is currently doing a series of lidded calabashes depicting extinct and endangered birds, trees, plants and other animals.

“The pieces I do on extinct and endangered species I really enjoy,” he said. “They bring attention to the fragile environment we live in here in Hawaii.”

He almost always cuts his own wood from trees he’s harvested on the Big Island.

“I start with a chainsaw and end up with tiny tiny bits you can hardly see,” Hare said. “I visualize what the piece will be and all the intricacies. It’s always amazing to me how the wood contains so much beauty – the grain, the curl, the color, the tree’s soul.”

Also self-taught, he advises anyone interested, “If you love what you do and don’t consider it work when doing it, then you are in the right occupation.”

Proceeds from pieces sold at the Annual Hawaii Wood Guild Invitational Masters Show will go to scholarships for HPA students. The event is sponsored by the Guild, the Hawaii Forest Industry Association and Isaacs Art Center.

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Louise Larson, 28, of Garfield has recently gotten interested in wood turning, the process of using a lathe to make something out of a block of wood. She said during a recent visit to a wood working shop to purchase some of those blocks, called blanks, she was bothered by how the cashier treated her.

“I was with my friend who was male and the person who was checking us out at the cashier station wouldn’t make eye contact with me even though I was obviously buying materials,” Larson said. “He only talked to the person I was with … about what they could experience in working with the kind of wood that I bought.”

Larson cited this as an example of how women are often marginalized in the culture of “making,” a term that describes a broad array of pursuits from woodworking to computer coding.
Some of the tools that will be available at Prototype PGH.
Credit Prototype PGH

Maker spaces such as TechShop and HackPittsburgh serve as an entry point for people who want to learn how to use tools that might be too expensive to purchase, such as laser cutters, 3-D printers, CNC machines and blacksmithing tools.

But access to these spaces can be cost prohibitive for some people. A monthly membership to TechShop is $150. HackPittsburgh runs about $30 per month.

Larson, who works at TechShop, is co-founder of a new maker space with a far lower price tag: just $25 for six months.

But the new space, dubbed Prototype PGH, is also feminist in nature, and thus more comfortable for women, people who are transgender and those who do not identify with the gender binary.

“We aim to create an accessible atmosphere where anyone from any background can walk in and feel comfortable accessing the tools and equipment there,” said co-founder Erin Oldynski, 29 of Stanton Heights, who also works at TechShop.

Georgia Guthrie, who directs The Hacktory in Philadelphia, wrote in the magazine Make: in 2013 that it is common for maker spaces to become male-dominated. She hypothesized that this is for the same reasons that women continue to be underrepresented in technology and engineering fields: gender stereotyping from an early age makes women feel like they don’t belong in these fields and, by extension, these spaces.
A watch that Erin Oldynski soldered together.
Credit Prototype PGH

“A really intimidating part of any maker or craft community is just sort of finding an entry point into the conversation and knowing you’re allowed to be there,” said Larson.

When Prototype PGH launches this weekend, users will have access to a variety of tools, including soldering equipment, a scroll saw, hand and power tools and a vinyl cutter. Larson and Oldynski have also applied for a grant through the Sprout Fund’s 100 Days of US initiative, which seeks to fund projects during the first 100 days of the new presidential administration. If awarded the grant money, the co-founders hope to purchase computers with coding and design software, a CNC machine and a 3-D printer.

Oldynski said because President-elect Donald Trump has expressed support for growing the manufacturing and technology industries domestically, she is not necessarily concerned about those jobs disappearing under the next administration.

“But we are concerned that women and people who express their genders differently will not be represented as equally in those growing fields of technology and innovation,” she said.

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A former tanker captain at sea, Tom Savoie of Abbeville signs his turned wood pieces, “Captain Tom Savoie.”

The New Orleans-born and raised Savoie didn’t turn his first bowl until about nine years ago, but he said he’s “done some type of woodworking” all his life, crafting candlesticks, tables and more. Savoie said he and his wife of 22 years, Judy, relocated to Abbeville after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Savoie is retired from the Military Sealift Command, a transportation provider for the Department of Defense, that refuels Navy transport ships.

“After I took my first wood-turning class, I liked it so much that I kept on doing it,” Savoie said. “I’ve been to a lot of hands-on classes, in Greenville, South Carolina, in North Carolina and in Tennessee.”

Savoie, 78, said a small, wooden goblet his father turned, and gave to him as a young man, inspired him to learn how to do similar pieces.

Savoie said his parents divorced when he was 4 years old and he didn’t reconnect with his father until he was grown with children of his own. But, Savoie said it was a serendipitous meeting that taught him “No matter how bad things seem, it always works out how it should.”

Savoie said his father helped him get a job on a ship and inspired his later woodworking.

“Other people’s work inspires me,” Savoie said. “You can go on YouTube and see demonstrations of other people’s work. That’s where I learned to make cornered bowls and then I devised a way to make six-cornered one.”

Once people know wood-turning is a hobby, Savoie said they’re “always willing to share a piece,” but he also gets pieces from Got Wood? LLC in Donalds, a source for domestic wood-turning blanks.

Fellow wood turner Hal A. Taylor of Greenwood said he considers Savoie a “very good friend and wood artist.”

“We got to know each other through Council of Lakelands Area Woodworkers,” Taylor said. “We share ideas and borrow tools. Tom is very creative. Recently, he’s been doing these diamond-shaped bowls with corners that I haven’t attempted yet. I’m real impressed with that style. He also did a little fish a while back and I have no idea how he made it.”

Savoie has a woodworking shop with three different sized lathes in his backyard, where he and his wife also raise pigeons, doves and chickens and they raise a lot of their own vegetables through aquaponics.

“I have sold a good many turned wood pieces,” Savoie said. “But, it’s very hard for me to let go of them. Generally, about five days a week, I’m turning.”

Challenging pieces are fun for Savoie, whether they are purposefully off-centered goblets with “captive rings” on the stems or winged or cornered bowls.

The latter, Savoie said, are “kind of dangerous” to make.

“You learn how to turn — or else,” Savoie said. “You learn how to hold your tool, or you get in trouble. I really do like to change up what I’m working on…. Once I’ve got a technique, I will move on to something else.”

Savoie said he’s definitely made some mistakes along the way, but hasn’t “wound up in the emergency room, yet.”

The natural variations in wood appeal to Savoie. For instance, box elder has a fine grain and can contain natural staining, he said. Another Savoie favorite is burl wood — a tree growth in which the grain has grown in an unusual way.

Savoie is a member of Council of Lakelands Area Woodworkers, Carolina Mountain Woodworkers and the American Association of Woodturners.

The Lakelands area, Savoie said, has a lot of talented artists. As a member of CLAW, Savoie has worked with fellow members to make wooden ornaments for a tree for the annual HospiceCare of the Piedmont Festival of Trees and to turn wooden bowls for Empty Bowls Greenwood, a fundraiser for the Greenwood Soup Kitchen.

“The one thing about turning is that you can put all of your concentration in one area,” Savoie said. “You can put it on par with meditation.”

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Liz Bergeron, 60, and her husband, Alan Bergeron, 65, both of North Liberty, have retired from the corporate world but are keeping themselves busy creating some highly unique and original ornaments.

These aren’t what you’d think of as your average Christmas ornaments either.

“We primarily make segmented turned wood ornaments from local, regional and imported woods,” said Liz, considered CEO and CWT — chief wood turner — for Whirled Woods Art. “Each piece is unique with a final size of approximately 3 inches in diameter and 4 to 6 inches long.” She said the ornaments — which sell for $50 or $60 depending on size, complexity and type of woods used — can hang on a tree, in a window, or in a stand on a desk. They use a variety of locally and internationally sourced woods, such as oak, cherry, walnut, maple, yellowheart and purpleheart.

“My husband has over 30 years of experience as a woodworker and has outfitted our house with a wonderful woodworking shop,” she said. “Over the years, I’ve helped with some of his building projects and I learned a great deal about wood from him. He is the engineer and I am the philosopher so our approaches tend to differ but ideally complement each other.”

Liz noted that her fascinating with woodturning turned into her receiving a lathe for her birthday 10 years ago. “The ability to sculpt the wood into gorgeous smooth shapes is what initially attracted me to woodturning and unlike flatwork, turned wood pieces seem to beautifully emerge as you create them, often in surprising ways. It’s always fun to see what’s making all that sawdust.”

Q. How did you get started?

A. Woodworking has always been for fun but friends encouraged us to launch a small business and Whirled Woods was born about a year ago when we both retired. It’s still just a rather addictive hobby — one among many.

Q. If you had only three words to describe what you do what would they be?
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A. Making wood beautiful.

Q. Where do you find your inspiration?

A. The woods we use themselves are stunning and distinct — they individually or collectively often inspire a certain shape. Ideas abound in the natural world — a bird or flower may stimulate a new form. We enjoy traveling and are also often attracted to a design element such as Russian onion domes or Nordic design which finds its way into our work.

Q. What’s the best part about being a crafty/creative person?

A. It is wonderful to create a tangible item of beauty, often from discarded scraps. Hopefully the pieces we make bring joy to someone else as well.

Q. Do you remember the first craft project you ever tried?

A. Many come to mind but one of my first significant projects was making stain glass art pieces with my father.

Q. When you become rich and famous for your work, then what will you do?

A. If fame and fortune do find us, it would be exciting to visit all the places the imported woods come from.

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